Of Nightmares and Miracles
Story Summary Reboot of older fanfics. After the appearance of two new pups, the PAW Patrol must confront the shadow of Chase's past only to have to deal with a larger conspiracy. Meanwhile, Rocky finds himself trying to help another pup learn to trust again. Of Nightmares and Miracles Chapter 1: Miracle ''' Hey, name's Rocky. I'm the eco pup on the team. "Don't lose it; reuse it" is not just my catchphrase; it's pretty much my whole worldview. In fact that's pretty much how this story starts. I can start telling you if you're interested. You actually want to hear how a simple job turned into a conflict between good and evil with a little romance thrown into the mix? Okay then, well, I guess we better start from the beginning. I was patrolling the beach looking for any litter that might have been left behind. I never fully understood why there were people out there who would leave their rubbish in the sand. Maybe they didn’t notice, maybe they were in a rush to leave for whatever reason, or maybe they didn’t even care that they were potentially hurting the environment. No, I’m not exaggerating; I have heard horror stories from Zuma about dolphins and turtles getting injured from the plastic bags and multi-pack yokes, most of which barely survived. To make matters worse, some of those items could have been recycled, putting them to better use than being water hazards. But I guess I ranted about that problem enough. Here’s where the story actually starts. I was going to my rig to deposit the previous bag and grab a replacement. I tossed the bag into the truck, but I heard a small scream coming from inside. Now I know what you’re thinking, but no, going in there is perfectly safe; there’s no mechanism for crushing the stuff that I’ve collected. In fact, I’ve been inside the storage compartment of my rig on multiple occasions. That said, however, I’ve never had someone snuck into it before. Yes, I was thankful that no one drove off with my truck while I wasn’t looking, but still. “Who’s there?” I asked before I waited a moment. “I know you’re in there, and I’m going to find you eventually, so you might as well show yourself.” The items that I grabbed started to move, but I still wasn’t able to tell who was in there. Now, before I go any further, I have to ask, “Are you familiar with the Kitten Kitastrophe Crew?” You are? Great, then you’ll get what I’m about to say next.” “If you’re that kitten clone of me, then-” Before I could finish that sentence, I was finally able to see the pup in the bin. Yes, a pup that looks nothing like me. Heck! She wasn’t even the same gender as me! What I actually saw was an Australian shepherd pup, but let me tell you this: I have never seen a pup as scrawny as she was. The lack of collar was enough to tell me that she was a stray, but I haven’t seen a pup this underweight, not even from Everest and Tracker. Speaking of pups who went from being stays to being honorary members of the PAW Patrol, I knew that we could trust Everest and Tracker because they were able to prove themselves as we met them. Sadly, I cannot say the same about this pup, who would have gotten herself into trouble if Chase were around. Trust me, if she were to join the PAW Patrol, then that would be great, especially since we would need help with- Wait, I’m starting to get ahead of myself here, aren’t I? Let’s just stick with what’s happening at that moment. “Do I look like a kitten to you?” she asked. “N-no,” I said, “I just had a few run-ins with a few over the years, one of which looked just like me.” “Right, sounds like something that would come out of a movie, or at least some cheesy cartoon.” “Believe me, you have no idea.” I then remembered the real reason why I had to address her. “So what are you doing in the back of my truck?” “Well, if you take a good look at me, it should be obvious; I was looking for some food.” “Oh, right. Kind of need that. Well, sorry to disappoint, but I highly doubt that anything that I collected from the beach was edible. Even then, there are some items in here that I could recycle, so I try to make sure that they’re in good condition.” “And this is coming from someone who hasn’t taken a bath in a while.” “I hate getting wet, okay.” “Not judging; I had to make do without one ninety percent of the time.” “Funny,” I said, “I didn’t know strays cared about staying clean.” “And just what are you implying,” she asked, “Are you saying that all strays are walking fleabags?” I immediately realized where my paw ended up and said, “N-no! That’s not what I meant to say at all!” “Uh huh, sure. Anyway, there’s the matter of skin irritation, mostly caused by fleas, not that the baths that I take work as effectively as it would have if I had a human.” “And I’m willing to guess that you had an owner before.” “You would be right. Let me guess, the tail gave it away.” “Or rather the lack of it.” “Yeah, I had that docked sometime after I was born.” She noticed that I had a weird look on his face that gave the impression that she had lost her mind. Once she realized what I was about to address, she quickly responded with, “Don’t ask why; it’s a long story.” “Okay, I guess I’ll have to ask you later.” I looked away hoping to figure out what he could say to change the subject. “So what’s your name?” “Miracle,” she said, “My name is Miracle. What about you?” “Rocky,” I answered. “Nice to meet you. Say, while we’re getting to know each other based on our appearances, I think I already figured out some things about you?” “Such as?” “Well, judging by your vehicle and matching uniform in addition to the fact that you are in pretty good physical condition as well as the scent of other pups that you have come into contact with, who might have been clean before they contracted whatever fleas that you might have had, I would say that you were part of a rescue team, and your job involves waste management.” I just sat there stunned, but she wasn’t done yet. “And if I were to make a deduction, I would say that the team that you were part of was the PAW Patrol. I mean, it’s not like it’s just a random taskforce; but it is the most popular, and it is the only one to my knowledge that is made up almost entirely of pups. Well, that is unless you count the human, but that’s neither here nor there.” “Wow, that was actually a pretty good deduction. Might actually give Chase a run for his biscuits.” “Biscuits?” she asked as if I was the one who lost my marbles, “I thought the word used in that expression was money.” “Well, yes, but we’re not humans, so biscuits was the next best thing,” I explained. Satisfied with her answer, she replied with, “Oh. Okay. Well, if it weren’t for the human, I’d love to meet all of you.” This response surprised me. This was actually the first time he ever encountered a pup who has a problem with humans, even though it was fairly common among strays that live in Adventure Bay, especially in the urban and city areas. “What’s wrong with Ryder?” “I just don’t trust him.” “Why’s that.” “Because he’s a human.” I was baffled by Miracle’s answer. “You know, someone might find that comment offensive.” “Don’t get me wrong; they aren’t inherently bad,” Miracle replied, “but based on my experience, humans only love you until your usefulness has expired.” “And just what was you ‘bad experience’?” Some random onlooker could easily break the tension with a knife as we gazed at each other in awkward silence. Miracle finally looked away and said, “I don’t want to talk about why, but all you need to know is that I don’t trust them.” “Well, why don’t you meet him?” “And what do you think will happen? Do you think he’ll change my mind about humans? I’ve already made up my mind on the matter, so you might as well just drop it.” “Okay, okay,” I said, leaving yet another beat of awkward silence. “On another note, this conversation never happened.” “Why?” “Because if anyone, especially your team, knows about me,” Miracle paused briefly to better formulate her response before she said, “Let’s just say that I’ll have a little too much unwanted attention.” “But-” I started before Miracle suddenly stopped me. “Not a word, okay?” “Fine, I won’t tell anyone.” “Thank you.” “But they will find out eventually, especially when you have Chase on the team.” “The police dog?” “Yes, him.” I confirmed, “If he catches wind of you, I can only keep you a secret for so long. And what do you plan to do if he finds you?” “I’ll just have to wing it in that case.” Miracle answered. Just as she finished that sentence, there was a growling noise. “Speaking of wings, I need to find something to eat still. If I leave now, I might be able to catch the dump over at Crispy Chick.” “Is there anything that I can do for you?” “Thanks for the offer, but I think I can handle myself from here.” “Can we at least meet up again sometime?” “If you don’t mind staying up a bit late, I think we can arrange that.” “Yeah, that might be a bit of a problem. Last time I tried that, the whole team had a hard time waking me up. It actually got to the point where Chase had Marshall use his water cannon against me on purpose.” “Yikes.” “And that’s on top of the fact that he accidentally sprays me on a daily basis.” “Then he might not want to cross paths with me.” “Anyway, I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not in a position where I can start making promises.” “I guess it’s better than breaking a promise. I’ll see you later.” “Okay. But if you need anything-” “Just yelp for help,” Miracle said, “I know the drill by this point.” Miracle turned as she walked away. I didn’t know what to think of this pup right now. Maybe I was overcomplicating her situation, but there was something about her, something that he hadn’t quite tapped into just yet. Even so, the story that she was abandoned by her owner really got to me. I was sad for Miracle because of what happened to her, but I was also angry at whoever put her in this situation. Still, what was done is done, and all I can do is help her in any way that I can, a task that would be so much easier if I could let the rest of the team in on this. Little did I know, however, that this would be the least of my worries. I started to turn away when he noticed another pup off in the distance. He was -like Chase- a German shepherd, and he looked very similar to Chase, but the markings were off different. His muzzle was that darker brown color, and the freckles that Chase had were missing, at least as far as I could tell from a distance. Another difference that I noticed was that Chase didn’t have any visible scars, unlike the other pup who has a nicked ear and claw marks going across his face. I decided that now would be a good time to call it a day and leave before this newer pup could have a chance to cause any trouble for me. I climbed into his rig and looked at the canine one final time before I started making my way towards the Lookout. I was lucky that day, but little did I know that this one pup would cause a whole lot of trouble for us. '''Chapter 2 Chase reporting. I know you were expecting Rocky, but he got called on a mission. Besides, he said that I might be able to tell this part of the story better since there is some information that might benefit the story better. So Rubble and I were returning to the Lookout after volunteering to help Farmers Al and Yumi after their sheep broke out due to some vandal damaged their fence. Rubble repaired their fence while I rounded up the sheep -even Marley. After that task was done, much longer than planned due to aforementioned black sheep, I asked the two if they saw anything. Unfortunately, they didn’t see the perpetrator, so there wasn’t much I could go off of. The wonderful thing about my nose is that I could get anyone’s scent. It’s not something I could go into a database and cross-reference with, but it’s a start. The thing about this scent is that there was something familiar about it; it was very similar to mine, but for multiple reasons, I couldn’t say that it was mine. First off, why would I risk my career over a prank that could have put the sheep and everyone at risk. Even if I was interested in that, there was another problem: I was at the Lookout with the rest of the team, minus Rocky and Skye, who were out completing their own missions at the time. My deduction was that it was a complete stranger or a relative of mine. No, I am not an only pup; like most, I do have siblings, and I do stay in touch with most of them. There is this one that I think would be the most likely suspect due to his prior history, but I haven’t seen him in ages. Rubble and I returned our vehicles to their proper spots before transforming them back into their pup house modes and went inside the Lookout to file a report concerning the incident. Yes, we keep a record of the jobs that we perform, which is soul-crushingly boring, but it does help when it comes to cross references. I noticed that Skye’s vehicle was absent, but I didn’t think much of it because it’s not uncommon for any of us to be called on an unrelated mission. We were about to enter the lookout when I saw Rocky returning with his vehicle. All seemed normal when he stopped right next to us. He said, “Hey Chase.” “Hey Rocky,” I said, “Is there anything wrong?” “Well, I don’t know if I can say that it’s wrong exactly,” he said, “I just wanted to let you know that I did see another pup.” “Oh?” I asked as I tilted my head. “Yeah, I just have a really bad feeling about him.” “What does he look like?” Rocky gave me a brief description of the pup. There was something familiar about that description, and the fact that the scent matches the pup of that description doesn’t help things at all. “I’ll look into it,” I said, “but I can’t just question another pup for just looking suspicious.” “I wouldn’t ask that of you,” Rocky said, “I just wanted you to be aware.” “Understood. Let me know if he starts giving you any trouble.” “I will. Thanks.” “One more thing,” I said stopping Rocky as he turned to walk away. “Yes?” he answered. “Rubble and I just got back from fixing Farmer Al’s fence. He didn’t see what happened, but based off what I smelled, the damage was intentional.” “Was it the Kitten Catastrophe Crew?” “No, it wasn’t,” Rubble said, “If it was, then Chase would have been sneezing non stop.” Rocky laughed at the thought of that, “Yeah, I guess that would be true. But if it wasn’t them, then who?” “I don’t know exactly,” I answered while shaking my head, “but I think it was a pup.” “Oh?” Rocky asked as he cocked his head, “Was it a boy or a girl?” Now it was my turn to tilt his head. “That’s a pretty odd question to be asking,” I said. “I know, but it might help me narrow down the suspects.” “Ah, got you. Well, I think it’s safe to say that it was a boy. It was also a German shepherd.” “Oh,” Rocky said seemingly relieved by my answer, which is also strange. I shrugged it off for the time being and said, “Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the pup you saw was responsible. As always, we need to act on the presumption of innocence unless he’s proven guilty.” “Got it,” Rocky said, “I hope we find whoever’s responsible.” “Believe me, we will.” We then went our separate ways. As I stated earlier, I would look into the matter, but I couldn’t shake that feeling. “Chase, are you okay?” Rubble asked. I guess I wasn’t doing a good job of hiding my concern. I answered, “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just trying to piece the clues together so that I can better identify the pup.” “Oh. Okay.” He paused for a moment before he said, “So why did you think that Rocky was acting weird?” “Well, I just thought that it would be odd that he would be asking for the perpetrators gender first instead of the description overall since he would have eventually gotten the answer to that question.” “Unless he just wanted to make sure some girl he met wasn’t a suspect, and why not ask that question to narrow it down by a lot.” I laughed, “You think Rocky has a girlfriend?” “Well, he wouldn’t be the first, but some of us are a little more ‘subtle’ about our crushes.” “And are you admitting to having a crush on someone?” “Ew! No! Why would I care about that? There are only three things that I love: My job, food, and sports. That’s it.” “And that’s fine. So who were you really talking about?” “Oh trust me, you’ll know, and there’s a reason why I put ‘subtle’ in air quotes.” “Okay then.” “And about this suspicious pup,” Rubble said. “Yeah, him,” I answered, “I’ll track him down sooner or later, and when I do, we’re going to-” “Lock him up?” “What? No, vandalism only warrants a fine, but I would also give him a stern talking to.” “Do you need someone to play bad cop?” Rubble offered. I laughed as I replied, “No, I really don’t think would be necessary. I think we can all be civil about the situation. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen?” We walked inside the Lookout and walked to the elevator. We made our way to what is effectively mission control. We immediately started working out the paperwork when the elevator brought someone else up. This time, it was Ryder and Marshall. “Hey Chase. Hey Rubble,” he said, “Rocky told me that you have a vandal on the loose.” “One that we’re having a hard time identifying,” I answered, “We already concluded that it wasn’t Mayor Humdinger’s kittens; the scent’s too canine.” “Don’t tell me Sweetie’s here,” Marshall said rolling his eyes. “No, Sweetie’s all the way back in Barkingburg last I checked,” I said, “But I do have to agree with you on that mindset.” “Yeah, she’s a ‘royal’ pain in the tail,” Rubble said. “And even if that weren’t the case, stuff like this is petty, even for her. Besides, the perp is male and smelled very familiar.” “Familiar how?” Ryder asked. “I feels as if this pup is related to me somehow.” “You don’t think it’s him again do you?” Marshall asked. “Frankly, I really don’t know what to think. I mean, it’s been years since we last saw him. I figured he would have either cleaned himself up or just moved on by now.” “Who are you talking about?” Rubble asked. I asked, “Well, you know how I came from a family of police dogs, right?” “Yeah,” Rubble said. “Well, I had a few siblings, one of which was a brother of mine, and he was a nightmare to deal with.” “How bad?” he asked. “Turn Harold Humdinger into a pup and make him nastier.” I answered, “That’s Swift.” “How could he be worse than Harold Humdinger?” Rubble asked. “He sent me to the hospital with a lot of broken ribs,” I answered. “Oh.” “He is not someone that you want to mess with.” “When did that happen.” “It was before Ryder formed the PAW Patrol,” Marshal said, “And it happened when Chase was defending me from him.” “Oh.” “And when my dad found out, he was furious to say the least. He was about to turn his own son in, but he disappeared before we could look for him.” “And you think it’s him?” “Well, I’m not entirely sure,” I said, “I mean, I’d have to get a good look at him, but at this point, I can’t rule out the possibility.” “But, I don’t think we’ll need to worry about it right now,” Marshall said, “I mean, we don’t know for sure, but as long as he keeps his distance from us, we shouldn’t have any problems.” “I would have to beg to differ,” Ryder said, “Even if Swift leaves us alone, there’s nothing that’ll stop him from going after civilians.” “Oh, that’s true.” I suddenly remembered. “You know, come to think about it, have you seen Skye anywhere?” Ryder answered, “No, she hasn’t reported back in a while. I can check on her if you want.” “I think that would be a good idea.” ---000--- Hey, Chase needed to hand this over to me. Turns out that things can get worse. My name’s Miracle by the way. I know, you don’t know a lot about you, and you probably don’t know a lot about me, but that’s okay. You will eventually. So you remember that mysterious pup, don’t you? Well, what if I told you that I actually knew him? Yeah, I know, it’s a bit of a shock, but trust me, it’ll all make sense. As for this scene, let’s just say that I was in for a bit of a shock when I would meet up with him again. I was on my way to the spot where we would normally hang out. It was an abandoned factory. It was shut down due to outsourcing. I don’t know what that company was thinking, but it did end up costing a few hundred workers their jobs. I would give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it was due to a failing economy or something like that, but given the fact that this factory was actually located in Foggy Bottom, I think we all know where this is going. Anyway, I was on my way inside when I heard what sounded like power tools. I thought nothing of it at the time, but when I went inside, I found what appeared to be a silver and pink helicopter. I thought that was strange, but when I saw the PAW Patrol logo, the same one that was fixed on Rocky’s uniform, I felt like I was about to throw up. I proceeded further into the building and sat behind the German shepherd pup that was taking apart the outer shell of the helicopter and waited for him to stop unscrewing the bolt that was holding the steel plate in place. I then barked, “Swift! What the heck do you think you’re doing!?” Swift was startled by my sudden outburst, but he quickly regained his composure and said, “Hello to you too, Miracle.” “You do realize that the helicopter is property of the PAW Patrol, right?” “Yes, I am well aware of that, and they’ll have it back as soon as I’m done with it.” As Swift resumed working I looked on his workbench and realized that a jetpack was sitting there as well. It was taken apart as well, but there were a lot of notes written concerning the jetpack itself. It was clear that he was trying to reverse-engineer the jetpack and he vehicle. I then realized that the scent of another pup was fresh on that jetpack, like it was only taken off a few minutes ago. “Swift, please tell me that you just snatched the jetpack off of the pup and not take her with it.” “It had to be done,” he said, “She was piloting the helicopter that I needed. I did hack the helicopter’s controls and bring it over here, but again, wrong place at the wrong time.” I started sniffing, the scent getting stronger as I walked toward a supply closed. Yes, it’s the most cliche hiding spot ever, but still. I opened the door and saw a small cockapoo pup who was still wearing her uniform. There was no mistaking it; it was Skye. She was gagged, but I could tell that she was more so peeved than anything else. I can’t say that I blame her. I growled before I turned to Swift and barked, “Are you kidding me right now?! If the PAW Patrol catches you, you’ll be doing some serious time in jail. Nevermind the fact that you stole something from them; kidnapping is an even more serious crime!” “I know, and I’m sorry it had to come to that, but everything will be returned once I get what I need.” “But-” “I’m sure they’ll have a change of tune once they realize that it’s for a good cause.” “I don’t think they’re going to see it that way.” “Want to ask them and see?” I froze. I knew that talking to the PAW Patrol meant that I would have to talk to the human. As stated earlier, my anxiety shoots through the roof at the idea of seeing a human; however, I was forced to choose between being compliant and comfort or helping the PAW Patrol get one of their members back. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Swift said knowing based off of my fear what my decision would be, “It’s probably better this way. You go to them, and they’re going to just put you back on the street once they’re done with you. You’re better off with me.” I slowly walked away. I couldn’t believe what he was doing. I looked up to him as a brother, and this is what he does behind my back? I don’t know what this “good cause” was, but I am having none of this. I know I couldn’t go to the PAW Patrol directly. What was it that he said that I needed to do? Oh yeah, I remember now. Notes * This is Lancewing's first fan fiction since 2015. ** However, this is the first time he has rebooted a fan fiction since Transformers Celestial Force ** This is also the first PAW Patrol fan fiction that he has written solo. ** This is also the first PAW Patrol fan fiction that is written in the pups' POV. * The name of the story references the fact that this is a reboot of "Just a Little Miracle" and "Chase's Worst Nightmare". * Rocky's getting intentionally soaked by Marshall by Chase's orders was a reference to the fanfic that this one is being rebooted from. * Much like his first appearance in Just a Little Miracle, Swift was not mentioned by name until the following chapter, or rather the sequel in the case of the source material. ** It's also worth noting that Swift's appearance it much sooner in the story than it was in the original.